The hermit country that's jumped from the year 113 to 2024 in just days

Several media outlets in one of the world's most isolated countries have stopped using the Juche calendar, providing now only dates.

Just days before, they had placed in the year 113, since the Juche system begins with the birth of the country's first leader, Kim Il-sung, in 1912.

The Juche calendar was officially adopted in 1997, three years after Kim died of heart failure.

The Rodong Sinmun, one of the main newspapers in the country, used the Juche calendar both in its print edition and on its website last Saturday.

However, starting Sunday, the newspaper stopped using the system in favour of the Gregorian calendar.

Some believe the move is an attempt by North Korea's leader to establish his own cult of personality.

"This seems to be part of efforts to establish his own independent cult of personality, which has been evident since the start of this year," a unification ministry official told South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

North Korea is often referred to as the Hermit Kingdom on account of its isolationism.

Most countries in the world use the Gregorian calendar, although a few still use local traditional systems.

and use the solar and lunar Islamic Hijri calendars respectively, placing their citizens in 1446 AH.

Nepal's Vikram Samvat calendar runs more than half a century ahead of the Gregorian one.

The UK moved to the Gregorian calendar in the C18th, in a move that was seen as highly controversial at the time.

In 1751, Britain was still adhering to the old Julian calendar system introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC.

However, Parliament viewed the calendar as being out of step with the continent's Gregorian system.

The Gregorian system is a solar calendar introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 and used throughout Western Europe at the time.

Plans to abandon the Julian calendar caused outrage and spawned a number of conspiracy theories.

In particular, people saw the move as a threat to English sovereignty and an embrace of 'Popery' in a fiercely anti-Catholic country.